Dinosaur Planet is an unreleased video game developed by Rareware. The game was supposed to be released for the Nintendo 64 in 2001 as their final game for the system, but it was later pushed back to be released for the Nintendo Gamecube, and was soon repurposed into Star Fox Adventures by request of Shigeru Miyamoto.
Synopsis[]
Development[]
Early Planning[]
Early ideas for Dinosaur Planet started after the release of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park in 1993. [1] But the idea for the game wasn't fully realized until after the release of Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64. The core ideas for Dinosaur Planet came from the unmade sequel to DKR. [2] With ideas such as racing down ice slopes, and the character of Timber evolving into Sabre. There were even text files that were similar to the original DKR game found within the files of both DP and Star Fox Adventures. [3]
Development[]
Development for this game started circa 1999. The developers were to make this game like no other. The game was to push the hardware limits of the N64, with fully detailed backgrounds and models, changes in the environment such as the transition to day and night, and changes of weather such as rain or snow, and cinematic cutscenes complete with full voice-acting. The game would be released on a 512 MB cartridge and would require an expansion pack. The game's demo was shown during E3 2000.
Transition to Gamecube and SFA[]
As the lifespan of the N64 was starting to reach its end, and because of how the developers were trying to push the limits of the hardware, it was decided that the game would move to the then upcoming Nintendo Gamecube system. This caused the release date to be pushed back from it's original early 2001 release. After the demo to the game was shown at E3 2000, Star Fox creator, Shigeru Miyamoto found interest in the game, and said that Sabre had a similar design to that of Fox McCloud. So he and the Nintendo company pressured Rare into changing Dinosaur Planet into a Star Fox title. Half the DP team didn't like the idea, while others seemed to be interested in it. According to the game’s Lead Software Engineer, Phil Tossell, he and his team felt "slightly disappointed at having to change Dinosaur Planet as we had all become so attached to it, but we could also see the potential of using the Star Fox licence."[4]
At the time, Rare was losing money, to the point where they were almost going bankrupt. They had offered the rest of the 51% stake in their company to Nintendo, but they declined the offer. Eventually they were soon bought out by Microsoft in 2002. With a new deadline, not only did Rare have to agree with Miyamoto's request, but they had to completely change almost everything. This included cutting about 50% of the original story, adding Arwing levels to coincide with the Star Fox theme, removing characters such as Randorn and the Pointbacks, replacing Sabre with Fox, and completely changing Krystal's character.
Trivia[]
References[]
- ↑ http://fyeahdinosaurplanet.tumblr.com/post/59145428548/so-ive-been-lurking-around-dkvine-for-anything
- ↑ http://fyeahdinosaurplanet.tumblr.com/post/76999738043/dinosaur-planet-to-sfa-one-of-the-more-well
- ↑ http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/04/dinosaur_planet_n64/#comment-10280
- ↑ http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/12/feature_the_making_of_star_fox_adventures
External Links[]
Official Website (Archived)